Oram injury hands England boost

England Cricket / Editor / 17 February 2007 /

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New Zealand will be without all-rounder Jacob Oram in their opening World Cup match against England, but the Kiwi camp are confident he will be back later in the tournament.

Big-hitting Oram broke the ring finger on his left hand as he took the catch to dismiss Mitchell Johnson in the ten-wicket Wellington win on Friday.
Oram will see a specialist on Monday to discuss how to manage the injury, but has been told it will take a month to heal.
Team general manager Lindsay Crocker said: "At this stage, we are confident he will travel to the World Cup."

Oram underlined his value to New Zealand's one-day plans with explosive batting against England and Australia in the Commonwealth Bank campaign.
The 28-year-old blasted the fastest one-day ton by a Kiwi, plundering an unbeaten 101 from just 71 balls against the hosts in Perth.
Oram also battered the England attack with a fluent 86 in Adelaide and an undefeated 54 in Perth.

Peter Fulton will replace Oram in the 13-man squad for the rest of the Chappell-Hadlee Series against Australia.
New Zealand are 12.5 to win their first World Cup in the West Indies with Group C rivals 10.5 for the tournament.

The Black Caps are 2.02 to top the group over England (1.88), Canada (110) and Kenya (32), when the tournament begins on 13 March.

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